Has Excelsior figured out a way to improve CPNE wait time yet?

Nursing Students Excelsior

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I've been reading the forum as well as the Excelsior website to research the school's LPN to RN program. What I've uncovered is that there have been issues related to scheduling for the CPNE exam. I know that the school shut down or stopped using a couple of testing sites also. So the issue is that the average wait time has increased from 2 to 4 months give or take...to 8 to 10 months give or take.

Does anyone know if Excelsior is making any progress on improving the wait time? Or could it be that this is being done on purpose to limit the number of RN new graduates being produced for economic purposes???

These are just questions and thoughts...I'm not trying to start any fights. I'm changing careers and starting an LPN program so I'm looking ahead for the next move. Yes I could just get an ABSN or RN first and then a second bachelors, but the LPN route allows me to work sooner, costs will be paid by WIOA, and I'm much older now. So two years of no work is not what I want. My next step is to contact the school via phone, but I'd appreciate any insight you all.

Thanks!

Last week I received an email from Excelsior stating the wait time has increased to 12 months!! I haven't stopped crying since I read the email - I am already nervous about the CPNE and now the wait time has increased significantly. I don't think my nerves can wait one year! (still crying). Does anyone know how long do you receive your ATT to sit for your NCLEX after you have passed the CPNE?

I am also still in waiting for the CPNE and received the same email about the wait time being around a year. As far as how long after passing CPNE that you have to wait to test NCLEX, it will still be a while. Back in December, we received an email stating that the CPNE, despite what Excelsior advertises, is not the final step in the process. In fact, after passing CPNE, students will have to take another ATI review course (3 months long) and successfully pass it before Excelsior will even send your paperwork to your BON. So the actual wait time from time of application approved to take CPNE to RN license in hand is more like 18 months on a good day.

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I am also still in waiting for the CPNE and received the same email about the wait time being around a year. As far as how long after passing CPNE that you have to wait to test NCLEX, it will still be a while. Back in December, we received an email stating that the CPNE, despite what Excelsior advertises, is not the final step in the process. In fact, after passing CPNE, students will have to take another ATI review course (3 months long) and successfully pass it before Excelsior will even send your paperwork to your BON. So the actual wait time from time of application approved to take CPNE to RN license in hand is more like 18 months on a good day.

ATI will probably take you about 2 weeks, from what I am seeing in the various Facebook groups; you have access to it 30 days before your graduation date. The MAXIMUM time you can do ATI is 12 weeks/three months. It doesn't automatically add 12 weeks/3 months. This does not mean 18 months from CPNE application to NCLEX.

I think that the addition of ATI being a requirement (not just available at no additional cost, as it has been for a while) was quite out of Excelsior's hands and was due to stipulations by the accrediting bodies.

When did you apply? Hopefully you'll get a date soon.

Application approved in December 2016. Checked all sites, cancellation dates, and one week notice. Still nothing. As per Excelsior, "A few days after you pass your Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination®, we will send you a message via Message Center with a link to sign-up instructions for the Virtual-ATI NCLEX review.." So, you will not have access to ATI until you pass your clinical. Then they won't send your paperwork to your BON until you're at least halfway through your ATI, then you have to wait to get your ATT and be cleared by your BON to schedule your NCLEX, then take it, then results.

None of these things happen one day after the other. There are inherent delays in all of this processing, which means, as per Excelsior's recent admission that the "new" waiting time is 12 months, the likelihood of a student waiting longer than this is guaranteed since Excelsior is certainly not going to advertise the longest wait times, they will advertise the shortest.

I guess my take on all of this is that people interested in going to Excelsior need to be fully prepared that they will not be taught anything, even though it is a school with teachers and they will have to take courses. Even as Pixie.RN admitted, Excelsior is not a teaching program. This is astounding to me that a "school" admits they are not in business to educate students.

As far as the wait time is concerned, Excelsior is clearly not concerned with it because if they were, they would address the issue. This does not require a master-degreed business major to figure out that if your wait times are a year or more, then you need to hire more people or go out and market your school to get more sites. From what I understand, these wait times have always been an issue with this school. I believe that enrollment hasn't suffered enough (i.e., affected their bottom line enough) for them to really be concerned about it so looking back, I would have absolutely not done Excelsior since I have several colleagues who started their brick-and-mortar school long after I did, graduated, got their licenses, and have been working as an RN for several months now. Excelsior talks up their program by saying you can simply "exam" out of all of your core courses and your nursing-specific courses in no time. That is true to an extent. Heck, if you started Excelsior and already had all of your core courses, you can probably exam through their nursing courses in a matter of 6 months or less, assuming you had the money and you passed the first try. But, the part they certainly don't emphasize is that you will then have to sit through 4 months of FCCA (which you cannot "exam" out of), then wait over a year to take a final exam.

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Even as Pixie.RN admitted, Excelsior is not a teaching program. This is astounding to me that a "school" admits they are not in business to educate students.

There is nothing to "admit," this is plainly stated (and I am not affiliated with the school, merely a graduate). But you are projecting the nature of one program — the ADN — onto the entirety of the school. There are several programs that do teach, including the BSN, MSN, and the other non-nursing programs (MBA, etc.). The school is more than nursing. The ADN program just happens to be competency-based, as outlined in their catalog and website.

I hope you get a date soon. Most people I know who called for cancelation dates tested in about 7 months or less. Good luck!

Just a follow up on the whole wait time issue. I just received an email stating that, in no uncertain terms, it is our (the student) fault that the wait time is so long!! All I can say is, Wow! Without having to copy and paste the entire email, the relevant part is "When a student is not successful on the CPNE and decides to repeat the exam, that student is added to the list and increases the wait time for everyone." This answers the question as to whether or not students who fail CPNE are put back into the queue.

If, as Excelsior claims, they are so concerned with students failing the CPNE, how about placing the students who fail back at the bottom of the list?? If this were done, which by Excelsior's own admission it is clearly not, then having them back in the queue would not affect anyone else waiting but them. Also, if you're so concerned with students failing, how about not making them sit and wait for an entire year after they've paid their $2000 plus and received no product?? How about sending supplies to students every couple months so they can be practicing NSL. No, I guess it's just easier to make them wait, let them fail, then blame all of their students for the wait time then hope they pay again. Wow, just wow!!

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
If, as Excelsior claims, they are so concerned with students failing the CPNE, how about placing the students who fail back at the bottom of the list?? If this were done, which by Excelsior's own admission it is clearly not, then having them back in the queue would not affect anyone else waiting but them.

Students who win appeals go to the front of the line. Students who fail of their own accord must reapply and are at the back of the line again. I know a few who have gone through or are still going through this cycle.

Wow! I feel so defeated! I have to wait a year to test for CPNE then another few months to sit for the boards (that is if I pass CPNE the first time!!) - I should have read the fine print a lot closer!

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Wow! I feel so defeated! I have to wait a year to test for CPNE then another few months to sit for the boards (that is if I pass CPNE the first time!!) - I should have read the fine print a lot closer!

Most people are taking boards right after graduation, and ATI seems to be taking a couple of weeks for many students; you have access to it 30 days before graduation. Contact the school if you have questions about the timeline, I am sure you will hear the same. The maximum time for ATI is 12 weeks, and if it takes a student that long to complete, he or she is probably not ready for the NCLEX.

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
Wow! I feel so defeated! I have to wait a year to test for CPNE then another few months to sit for the boards (that is if I pass CPNE the first time!!) - I should have read the fine print a lot closer!

I would be taking a couple of general education exams separate from EC (that would apply towards a BSN) during that 12-month downtime if I were you. You could check any college's BSN prereq requirements. If the ASN is your first college degree, then I'm sure CLEP has a lot of exams (under $100 each) that you've not yet taken, that you can be working on; and those do not have to be transferred to EC or any other institution until/if you decide to continue on post-NCLEX.

When you need a break from practicing for the CPNE, CLEP a course or two.:sneaky: Go hard at the CPNE practice again. Then CLEP another course or two, if possible and time allows. As a self-motivator, you know how to do this.:up:

You are not defeated unless you choose to do nothing. Even if you have not decided on furthering your education, those additional credits that you earn will still be there waiting for when you do.;)

Thanks BSNbeDONE but I already took all of my pre-reqs for the BSN program while I was taking these classes and that's what took me so long in the first place. I took Chem w/Lab, Nutrition, Statistics, etc. the only class I didn't take (which I found out I have to take if I plan on going to RN to BSN program) is the BioChem...I am "doing something(s)" - I am just tired and I am ready for it to be over so I can move forward.

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

Oh...in that case, I'll just pull up a chair and keep you company while you wait. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I know better than anyone what it's like to see the finish line, yet have endure surmounting frustration due to a timeline beyond your control. IT.....SUCKS:(!!

I was finally offered a VA job (second offer, by the way---the first offer is a long story for a very different day). I had said that working at the VA was the only way that I would return to the bedside. Well, back in early June, I was told that it's a go! Tentative starting pay based only 31 years of nursing is $21K more than my non-bedside position. YAY!!-right? But they have to go in and calculate my detailed experience within those years: charge, vents, substance abuse, acute care, stepdown unit, etc., to determine the final salary.

Well, it's about to be August, still no start date!!:down: Mind you, I applied for this job (among others) during the summer of 2016. Waiting....and waiting....and waiting....and still waiting:banghead:...talk about your baby and dangled candies.

So, these challenges do not end with graduating (or in your case, trying to graduate) from nursing school. You will have those moments when you realize you were happier as an LPN (on occasion). Just hang in there...

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I was finally offered a VA job (second offer, by the way---the first offer is a long story for a very different day). I had said that working at the VA was the only way that I would return to the bedside. Well, back in early June, I was told that it's a go!

Omg, really??? Congrats!!

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